The Muck · WSOP Daily Brief
Day 46
The bubble took three hands, and it took Chris Moneymaker with it. The man who invented the poker boom called off his last chips playing the board and got shown aces, busting the Main Event on the stone bubble alongside Stoyan Madanzhiev and Zhaken Seitbekov, per PokerNews. From there Day 4 was a wood chipper: 856 players cashed and left, including Kristen Foxen, John Cynn, Scott Blumstein, Joe Hachem, and a man dressed as Santa Claus who ran into kings held by a player named Fair. Sam Sweilem, a Florida player with one recorded WSOP cash and $130K in lifetime earnings, bagged 3,800,000 to lead the 533 survivors. Elsewhere, Eric Weber turned kitchen-table poker with his dad into a $400,000 bracelet in the Ultra Stack, Texas Mike settled for ninth, the Mystery Bounty PLO refused to end and needs an unscheduled Day 3, and Daniel Rezaei leads a $50K High Roller field that includes Kristen Foxen, who busted the Main and bagged a top ten stack in the $50K on the same day. Also, sadly, poker lost mixed games legend Roy Thung.
Story 01 of 6
The money bubble burst three hands into Day 4, and the headline casualty was 2003 champion and Hall of Famer Chris Moneymaker, per PokerNews. Moneymaker opened jack-nine, called a three-bet from Antonio Vargas, and by the river the board read 8-7-7-7-8, a full house on its face. Vargas set him in for his last roughly 100,000, Moneymaker called playing the board, and Vargas rolled over aces to play a bigger board. Two other players busted on the same hand-for-hand sequence: inaugural WSOP Online Main Event champ Stoyan Madanzhiev lost ace-king against Gregory Brown's fives, and Zhaken Seitbekov ran into Dan Stavila's flopped set. The three split a min-cash, receiving $10,000 apiece per PokerNews, and Seitbekov won a three-way flip for a WSOP Paradise Main Event package.
Why it mattersThe most famous amateur in poker history bubbling the world championship on a call-the-board cooler is the kind of poetry the Main Event writes annually and nobody else can. Calling there is defensible, chopping the pot is the most likely outcome, and none of that will stop the clip from running forever. The bubble also popped exactly as forecast: first level, before lunch, maximum cruelty. Vargas gets to tell people he bubbled Chris Moneymaker for the rest of his life, which might be worth more than the pot.
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Day 4 cut the field from 1,389 to 533, and the new chip leader is Sam Sweilem of Florida with 3,800,000, per PokerNews. Sweilem has exactly one recorded WSOP cash, from 2019, and just over $130,000 in lifetime earnings per The Hendon Mob. He got there by stacking a big chunk off Chris Brewer with a full house and rivering a flush to bust Eugene Teibloom. Steven O'Nan (3,600,000), Artur Martirosian (3,495,000), Kyle Mart (3,480,000), and Chih Fan (3,365,000) round out the top five. Felix Kuemayr, seventh yesterday, is seventh again with 3,125,000. Four former champions remain: Hossein Ensan leads them with 2,580,000, while Greg Raymer (535,000), Ryan Riess (455,000), and defending champ Michael Mizrachi (440,000) are grinding shorter stacks. Everyone left has locked up $32,500, and Day 5 starts at 11 a.m. at 10,000/20,000.
Why it mattersThe Main Event does this every year: builds up a chip leader with a resume, then hands the halfway lead to someone the databases barely know. Sweilem at 190 big blinds is in legitimate position to 30x his career earnings by Monday. Meanwhile the champions' club got cut in half in one day, with John Cynn (617th), Joe Hachem (803rd), and Scott Blumstein (666th, a finish he did not choose but deserves framing) all cashing and leaving. Mizrachi at 22 big blinds is officially in must-win-flips territory, and PokerNews is still asking whether he could do it again, mostly because nobody wants to be the one who doubted him twice.
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Eric Weber beat the 8,007-entry field in Event #86, the $600 Ultra Stack, for $400,000 and his first bracelet, per PokerNews. Weber started the final day sixth of 16, doubled through big stack Sriharsha Doddapaneni early with pocket sevens, then won the tournament's pivotal pot when his three-bet with kings induced a tilted Doddapaneni to jam ace-eight. Heads-up against France's Henry Benamram lasted nearly three levels before Benamram shoved jack-nine into, once again, Weber's kings. Benamram took $260,000 for second, also his career best. Weber told PokerNews he learned the game as a kid playing with his dad and uncles, fell in love when Moneymaker won in 2003, and was literally supposed to fly home yesterday morning before the final day forced a rebooked flight and an extra hotel night. Michael 'Texas Mike' Moncek, third in chips overnight, finished ninth for $40,071.
Why it mattersOn the same day Moneymaker bubbled the Main Event, a guy who took up poker because of Moneymaker won a bracelet and credited him by name. The torch-passing writes itself. Weber's quote about his mindset, just move on to the next hand, is the least glamorous winning strategy in poker and also the only one that works over a three-level heads-up grind. As for Texas Mike, the redemption arc ended at the final table bubble of the payout ladder's steep part: ninth of 8,007 is a great result that will feel terrible for about a month.
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Event #87, the $1,000 Mystery Bounty PLO, was supposed to crown a champion yesterday and did not, per PokerNews. The tournament director called time with 34 players still chasing the $305,000 top prize, forcing an unscheduled third day starting at 1 p.m. Shawn Stroke leads with 15,550,000, barely ahead of mixed-games stalwart Christopher Vitch (15,175,000), with Wojciech Barzantny (11,050,000) and Sameer Batra (10,925,000) also over eight figures. Seven of the remaining players own bracelets: Vitch, Travis Pearson, Noah Schwartz, James Chen, Alex Manzano, Mark Radoja, and Nick Pupillo. PokerNews says the event plays to a winner today regardless of how long it takes.
Why it mattersA $1,000 PLO field going a full unscheduled day over is what happens when you combine four-card poker, bounty envelopes, and pot-limit betting that makes all-ins a negotiation. The overtime helps the pros: with shallow-ish stacks and 34 left, the seven bracelet winners in the field get a fresh, rested run at hardware. Stroke versus Vitch at the top is a nice contrast, and whoever survives gets bracelet #87 of 100 with the mystery bounty money already mostly distributed.
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Event #90, the $50,000 High Roller NLHE, drew 103 entries on Day 1 and played down to 51, per PokerNews. Austria's Daniel Rezaei bagged the only stack above two million at 2,010,000, just ahead of Lithuania's Paulius Vaitiekunas (1,965,000). The counts read like a fantasy draft: Thomas Boivin (1,510,000), Eelis Parssinen (1,450,000), Kristen Foxen (1,220,000), Daniel Negreanu (1,085,000), Bryn Kenney (1,000,000), Jeremy Ausmus (480,000), and Martin Kabrhel (350,000). Foxen's day deserves its own line: she busted the Main Event in 1,331st shortly after the bubble broke, walked over, and bagged eighth in chips in the $50K. Late registration stays open until roughly 3:15 p.m. today, so the entry number will grow.
Why it mattersThe $50K restarting while the Main Event runs is the summer's great split-screen: 533 players chasing life-changing money in one room, the sickest regs in the world casually re-entering for $50,000 in another. Foxen turning a Main Event bust into a same-day top ten high roller bag is the most professional response to disappointment we will see all series. And with late reg open into this afternoon, expect a few more Main Event casualties to launder their grief through the registration cage.
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PokerNews reported that mixed games legend Roy Thung has passed away, just days after recording his final WSOP cash. Details beyond the initial report were not available at time of writing; we will follow up as the poker community pays its respects.
Why it mattersThung was a fixture of the mixed games world, the corner of poker where reputations are built over decades of eight-game tables rather than viral hands. That his last recorded result came at this summer's WSOP, still competing at the end, says everything about the man's relationship with the game. Our condolences to his family and the mixed games community.
One bracelet awarded Thursday, July 9, bringing the count to 86 of 100. The Mystery Bounty PLO (Event #87) was supposed to finish but goes to an unscheduled Day 3 today, where it will crown a winner no matter what, per PokerNews.
First bracelet, largest score of his career, 8,007 entries, $4,035,528 prize pool. Beat Henry Benamram heads-up over nearly three levels, kings versus jack-nine at the last, per PokerNews.
Main Event counts are official Day 4 bags per PokerNews. Day 5 resumes at 11 a.m. at 10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 big blind ante; the plan is five more two-hour levels. $50K High Roller and Mystery Bounty PLO counts are end of Day 1 and Day 2 respectively. Yesterday's leader Sasha Liu did not appear in the Day 4 recap either way; see missing.
Day 4 eliminated 856 players from the Main Event, all in the money except the three bubble boys, who split a min-cash of $10,000 apiece, per PokerNews. Exact payouts by finish below the min-cash tier were not itemized in our sources.
Called off his last chips playing the board against Antonio Vargas's aces, per PokerNews. The boom's founding father bubbled the world championship on a full house.
The 2020 WSOP Online Main Event champ lost ace-king against Gregory Brown's fives on the same hand-for-hand sequence, per PokerNews.
Ran into Dan Stavila's flopped set, then won the three-way flip for the WSOP Paradise Main Event package, per PokerNews. Consolation prize of the year.
Among the first out after the bubble, per PokerNews. Responded by bagging a top ten stack in the $50K High Roller the same day.
The 2012 runner-up cashed and departed early in the post-bubble rush, per PokerNews.
The online legend fell just after Stephen Song (1,049th), per PokerNews.
Out in the mid-afternoon wave alongside Alex Livingston (897th), per PokerNews.
The 2005 champ had his bluff picked off by Christopher Storie's pair of fours, per PokerNews. Sometimes fourth pair is a hero.
The controversial high roller's Main Event run ends in the money, per PokerNews.
Played fully dressed as Santa Claus and ran into kings held by Nathan Fair, whom PokerNews dubbed The Grinch. The Main Event has jokes.
The 2017 champion busted in the most cursed finishing position available, per PokerNews.
The 2018 champ's exit halves the champions' club to four, per PokerNews.
Texas Mike started the final day third of 16 but was first out at the final table, per PokerNews. The bracelet chase continues.
Controlled a quarter of the chips in play before jamming ace-eight into Weber's kings, per PokerNews. Tilt is expensive at $600 tables too.
Bagged 1,500,000 and is now officially in the Main Event money, per PokerNews. Every pay jump from here adds POY points to a lead that was already healthy.
Hit a royal flush on Day 4 and bagged 1,695,000, per PokerNews, slightly ahead of Deeb in chips. The two-horse race now runs through the same tournament.
Bagged 440,000, about 22 big blinds, per PokerNews. Short, but the back-to-back dream is officially alive at 533 left, and he has been short before.
No mention in any of our Day 45 sources. Status unverified for a second straight day.